Lactose Intolerance Paper

Lactose Intolerance Lactose intolerance is the inability to digest significant amounts of lactose, the predominant sugar of milk. This inability results from a shortage of the enzyme lactase, which is normally produced by the cells that line the small intestine. Lactase breaks down milk sugar into simpler forms that can then be absorbed into the bloodstream. When there is not enough lactase to digest the amount of lactose consumed, the results, although not usually dangerous, may be very distressing. While not all persons deficient in lactase have symptoms, those who do are considered to be lactose intolerant.

Secondary to the discussion post assignment for this week, I learned about lactose intolerance. When an individual drinks milk, an enzyme lactase, breaks down the lactose in the milk into two monosaccharides glucose and galactose which the individual then uses as energy for the body (Open Learning Initiative, 2015, pg.93). However, numerous individuals lack the necessary lactase needed to properly break down the lactose in their small intestine, resulting in bacteria in the colon breaking

-Lactase deficiency is a deficiency in the enzyme that breaks down lactose. The causes of lactase deficiency include congenital defects, secondary lactase deficiency, and primary (acquired).

The enzyme that will be used in this experiment is lactase. Lactase is an enzyme that breaks down a sugar found in milk called lactose into glucose and galactose. Lactase is found in the small intestine, and is naturally produced by the body. If someone’s body does not produce the lactase properly, or the lactase itself doesn’t act properly, that person would be considered lactose intolerant. This means your body would not be able to digest milk properly, and you could suffer symptoms such as cramping, diarraea, painful gas, and nausea after having some sort of dairy. If one would was lactose intolerant, but wanted to have some sort of dairy product, they could take a lactase supplement. The lactase in the supplement will break down the lactose

If someone is lactose intolerant, that means that they are lacking the enzyme lactase, so the lactose does not get broken down into galactose and glucose. If lactose goes undigested it creates many problems. It causes dehydrations because water and electrolytes get pulled into the intestines by the lactose, which acts like an osmotic agent. The result of the increased amount of lactose would be diarrhea, bloating, and gassiness. Although being lactose intolerant seems to be abnormal, it is actually natural. The production of the enzyme, lactase, is a mutation of the LTC gene, it allows us to produce lactase as adults. In all other mammals lactase is produced during infancy but not during adulthood.

According to “Got Lactose?”, cultural behavior affects evolution. In this excerpt, it is shown that cultures that included lactose in their diets, such as European and East African cultures, are lactase persistent in adulthood. Other cultures, such as Asian cultures, that did not include lactose in their diets, did not continue to be lactase persistent in adulthood. This is shown in the example of what happens during a famine. During famine, when milk was a majority source of food, those who could not process lactose died off, leaving those who can process lactose to survive. So now, those there today have the mutation that allows them to process lacto

Lactose intolerance is fairly common. It seems to affect guys and girls equally. Some ethnic groups are more likely to be affected than others because their diets traditionally include fewer dairy products: Almost all Asians and Native Americans are lactose intolerant, and up to 80% of African Americans and Hispanic Americans also have symptoms of lactose intolerance. Their ancestors did not eat dairy foods, so their bodies were not prepared to digest dairy, and they passed these genes on from generation to

The opposition for consuming dairy products lies on the notion that the enzyme that is able to digest the lactose sugar, lactase, “grinds to a halt sometime soon after weaning.” This can be believed to be a biological reasoning why we should not consume dairy products after weaning. However, Zuk mentions that there are some humans who are able to break down lactose well after weaning. She also describes that the gene for lactase persistence is a dominant trait. Thus, like we learned in class an organism only needs one copy of the dominant gene for the lactase persistence to occur.

Breast feeding has been associated with the neurodevelopment of an infant. According to Stuebe and Schwarz (2011), studies shown that breast-fed and formula fed-infants produced evidence of developmental differences. For example, infants who didn’t exclusively breast feed until 6 months of age crawled later and were less like to walk than the infants were exclusively breast-fed. Also, formula fed-infants had IQ scores that were 7.5 points lower when they were at age 6.5. From this study, only basic information is such as walking and IQ score shown at a grade school age is seen it is hard not to see what the picture would be life if the trend of a slower neurodevelopment continues into the later years of a child. A child who will be lacking in this department can hinder growth in many areas such as motor skills. Showing a decline in IQ scores can also delay a child in succeeding academically future in life. These two factors alone can affect other areas of life. Knowing these facts as a parent would be beneficial. As parents, you would want the best for your child and want to give them the best opportunity possible. The missing link between breast milk and formula milk is long-chain poly unsaturated fatty acids which is said to

“Lactase is an enzyme that breaks down lactose, the sugar in milk. It is produced by the cells lining of the small intestine. Most people are born producing it, but often make less of it as they age, which causes lactose intolerance the symptoms for this include nausea, bloating, and diarrhea to name a few. This enzyme is produced

a. Lactose intolerance means that people who lack or have less lactose enzymes in the digestive system cannot completely break it down into glucose and galactoe, so it may lead to some adverse reactions.

The last type of lactose intolerance is called congenital or developmental lactose intolerance. Rarely, babies can be born with lactose intolerance which is caused when lactase activity is completely absent. This disorder of being born lactose intolerant is passed from generation to generation meaning is it also determined by genetics. The pattern

Lactase is an enzyme that breaks down lactose. Lactose is the sugar found in milk. It is made up of two monosaccharides: glucose and galactose. Therefore it is a disaccharide that needs to break down in order to be digested. However some people are “Lactose Intolerant” or lack lactase in their bodies. This means that they cannot consume lactose-contained food or drinks or they need help digesting it. People who are lactose intolerant must be very selective to make sure that they do not eat food or drinks with lactose. There are pills though, which are purchased by lactose intolerant people. This pill helps the people break down the sugar lactose into its smaller components.

Colostrum introduces high immunoglobulin into a baby’s body, which contains antibodies, nutrients, and growth factors that helps newborns to have a strong immune system. It is important for expecting mothers to breast feed babies immediately after childbirth, so they can enjoy the benefits of colostrum because the mother’s milk will stop making colostrum and normal milk will be produced. Breast milk is very important in the life of any newborn, unfortunately some babies do not get this milk or adequate amount of milk from their mothers due to one reason or the other, such as maternal death after child birth, and mother refused to breastfeed, mother not making enough breast milk for baby, infant is born preterm and other medical reasons. There are other ways babies can be feed. Babies can be given formula or wet nurse milk. Recently, a donor’s milk is used to feed babies in some of the developed countries including United States of America. A donor is a woman who sold or donated her breast milk to the hospital or human milk banks. The donor’s milk is then used to breastfeed new born baby, preterm and low weight infants in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). The milk goes through a pasteurization process before it will be used to feed babies. It is better to feed new born babies with human milk than formula. Breastfeeding is good for infants and mothers too. It helps a

Lactose intolerance occurs when the body has a hard time digesting dairy products. Lactose is a milk sugar and is broken down by enzymes in the intestinal track, allowing the enzymes to be used as an energy source. Lactase is an enzyme which breaks down lactose. Lactose intolerance occurs when the intestine does not contain lactase (Jackson). Low lactose activity in the small intestine, allows undigested lactose to pass into the colon, where the bacteria are able to convert the sugar into hydrogen gas and organic acids. This causes symptoms such as bloating and cramping (“Lactose Intolerance”). The two causes of lactose intolerance are primary lactase deficiency and secondary lactase deficiency. In primary lactase deficiency the level of lactase enzyme falls as a person gets older. This does not allow the person to tolerate the amount of lactose that they were used to. This affects around 70 percent of the population. Secondary lactase deficiency is a temporary condition in which the level of lactase drops due to a problem in a person’s digestive